Pastel Highlands He who hesitates is lost

RE: The stars are unusually bright tonight. Maybe because it's also unusually cold.. brr.
For @Clouse

He could wait no longer to see if his sibling would reappear. Reade had to carry on, to see their goal through for himself. To find Relic Lore. Perhaps they would meet each other again once there, he would not dismiss his hopes too easily.

Travelling here had taken longer than anticipated, and what should have been autumn stretched into winter. It would be harder to thrive and gain a foothold, that would be the first order of business he decided. Find somewhere to hunt, to drink, to call home, if only for the time being. If this really was the place he sought, he cautioned himself. He must find out, to be sure.

And when he reached the Lore, what then? The question had become more and more pressing in recent days. The last in the string of landmarks passed down by word of mouth had run out, until he was faced with a wild place that stretched out toward vast mountains looming in the distance. Tonight he could not rest, he felt so sure he was close enough to push on, and his elation carried him briskly over the crusted snow. The frigid air brought each puff of his lungs into the world as a cloud, the only ones to be seen. It seemed even the stars were brighter tonight in the clear winter skies above. They too had helped to guide him, the Hunting Pack and their prey just clearing the peaks he could see in the far distance, black against the starry canvas above. With each step across the frozen, sleeping world, he knew he must be ever closer to his destination.

Clouse was in a rather good mood, thanks to a few select happenings. The weather appeared to mimic his state, clearing to gift the nocturnal traveler with a calm and brightly-lit night. He watched the sky above just as often, if not more so, than he did the path ahead. So many hours and days and weeks had been spent teaching him the way of the heavens, arcane lessons of the power the world above had on every aspect of their lives. He finally slowed to a stop, a stupid and lopsided grin on his features as he stared down that sacred entity named Moon.

"Fuck you," he declared suddenly, the night empty enough for the words to almost echo. Clouse barked louder, caught up in a moment of catharsis. The words were joyous despite their claim.

"Fuck you!"

He might not have indulged so if he'd known there was another lurking in the darkness near enough to hear.

(This post was last modified: Jan 28, 2023, 06:22 AM by Clouse.)

It was the voice that gave him pause, for he'd thought himself alone in the frozen landscape, but for the stars. No scent had greeted him yet, but the voice ringing out in the night from downwind was quite real. And a bit obscene! Reade's ears twitched. But he was curious to see who it was, yelling into the void. "Yeah!" he barked, cheering spontaneously in response, changing his direction to find out the mystery caller. He wouldn't go so far as to curse too, though.

Reade broke through the fresh snow until he saw the dark outline. "Hello, I assume you don't mean me?" he said with a chuckle as he approached the dark wolf. A good-humored wave of his tail and jovial greeting, he was too eager to make a good start here. There he went assuming again, that he was really here. But he trusted the stars not to lead him astray.

Clouse didn't expect the cheer which followed his outburst, ears jumping and swiveling to try and pinpoint the voice's owner. A smudge of creams and browns appeared amidst the snow and its gray shadows, headed his way and friendly in demeanor. His own tail picked up to mirror the stranger's wags, a smile still present on his own gray-dipped muzzle. It grew lopsided at the comment made.

"Not at all," he assured, before swinging his muzzle upward toward the sky and the Moon Mother's heavy gaze.

"Just chattin' with an old friend. Name's Clouse, hope I haven't disturbed you?"

His head tilted slightly as the question was spoken.

Reade was glad to find the stranger seemed friendly enough. Flashing a grin, he dipped his head at the dark man and came to stand a short distance away, his tail swaying easily behind him.

He took the other man's words to be figurative, following his gaze up toward the sky for a moment. Reade didn't catch any sign or scent of anyone else nearby. "No, I found tonight to be a good night for travelling, but this was worth a detour," he had been slightly disturbed by the language, but he wouldn't burden the stranger with that. "I'm Reade Quinlan," he gave his own name in turn, providing his family name as well, leading into his next words.

"You haven't run into anyone else out here with that surname, have you?" it was a bit of a long shot, but he still hoped to find his lost sibling.

... but this was worth the detour, the amiable stranger threw in so simply, causing Clouse to quirk a brow and regard him with a touch more mischief in his crooked smile. His nature bid him to flirt, but he found himself abstaining for now. For whatever reason, the words refused to climb up out of his throat just yet.

"Aw thanks."

Reade. It fit him, and that charming boy-next-door appearance. At the question asked, Clouse rolled his shoulders in a shrug while shaking his muzzle no. He didn't often get last names, now that he thought about it.

"Not that I know of. There somethin' you need help with?"

He didn't seem wracked with concern, but that didn't mean he couldn't use assistance.

note to self this is after clouse meets loach but before being asked to the split

(This post was last modified: Jan 30, 2023, 04:32 AM by Clouse.)

Reade puffed out a small breath of disappointment, but he shrugged it away with a roll of his shoulders. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. The Fates would have them find each other again if they were meant to, as long as they kept on trying and did not give up. But perhaps Clouse could still help him with something else.

"I was travelling with my sibling, but we became separated," he explained. "It's nothing I'd want you to worry about," new acquaintance or friend, or simple chance encounter, Reade was not one to burden others, he'd rather Clouse carry a happy memory when they parted.

"Though perhaps if you meet another Quinlan, tell them you saw me?" he smiled before moving along, not one to dwell on unhappy subjects for long. "We were travelling together towards Relic Lore," he could not keep a note of reverence from his voice at that as he shifted from one foot to the other in the snow. Perhaps Clouse had heard of the place, knew if it was close or if he had in fact reached his destination.

It wasn't the worst of stories, thankfully. Siblings being separated was sometimes simply a way of the world. Clouse's own siblings may very well consider him missing and yet he wouldn't change a single thing about where he was. Hopefully, Reade's brother was just out there finding himself at his own pace rather than in some kind of trouble.

His dark head bobbed up and down as he assured the other man that, "of course," he would remember their meeting should he ever come across this errant brother.

"Ah, yeah that's pretty broad for a rondezvous point, huh?"

The land spread so far that even if both siblings made it to their goal, they still might never run into each other - especially given Serpent's Pass.

"Were you headed here for any particular reason?"

Did he have familial stories of grandeur from these old forest too?

(This post was last modified: Feb 04, 2023, 11:16 PM by Clouse.)

"Thanks," he gave the other man a sincerely grateful smile.

Clouse's next words brought a wince, though. "Yeah, I know," he conceded with a sheepish shrug. It had never been meant as a rendezvous point honestly, but a shared destination, a journey, a goal. He was alone though, so now what?

He didn't have a good answer. "Grew up hearing about it like it might not even be real," he had always believed the tales though, passed down by elders from ones who were gone. And luckily he was not alone, either in his faith or wanderlust, so they'd set out to see what the fates would bring them if they looked. But how to explain all that?

"It sounded worth trying to find, though," he glanced back to Clouse. Maybe he would understand after all. "Did you say here," he dared to ask as if it might be too good to be true. Reade grinned in spite of himself, his tail rising to wave hopefully. "As in, I'm finally here?"

Grew up hearing about it like it might not even be real, the other said, and Clouse related strongly to those words. Had he been raised in Torbine or even along the shores with either his grandfather or grandaunt, the young Archer heir would have been gifted with the kind of charmed life that made such stories seem totally probable. Instead, his parents had chosen to raise him in a coven where he was... bah, never mind any of that.

Clouse nodded again.

"Sure are. Well, practically. Most of your stories probably took place a bit further east."

He used his muzzle to motion, toward the distant, nearly indiscernible peaks of Mount Dire.

"Happy hunting."

That could have been it, a genuine wish for wellness and then a departure. Clouse wasn't so skittish of company, though. Reade could have him for the whole afternoon if he so wished. Getting to know new faces was, for him, just as enthralling as discovering novel terrain and hidden features. After all, he'd been on a rather good streak with the strangers he'd come across here so far.

"Any tale you're chasing in particular? I just might know of it."